University of Memphis vs. Virginia Commonwealth preview

11:00 PM, Nov 21, 2012

12:43 PM, Nov 22, 2012

Key matchups

G Joe Jackson (Jr., 6-1, 171, 13.5 ppg, 5 apg) vs. G Darius Theus (Sr., 6-3, 200, 10.7 ppg, 5.3 apg): Jackson has just two turnovers in 62 minutes. He'll be going against a bigger, stronger guard in Theus, who — along with senior teammates Troy Daniels and David Hinton — is 23 wins shy of moving into first place on VCU's individual player all-time wins list. Jackson has scored in double figures in six of his last seven games going back to last year.

F Tarik Black (Jr., 6-9, 262, 11 ppg, 4.5 rpg) vs. F Juvonte Reddic (Jr., 6-9, 235, 16.3 ppg, 8.7 rpg): Black is coming off one of the worst performances of his career as a Tiger, having registered just four points and two rebounds in Memphis's home win over Samford last Saturday. He and senior forward Ferrakohn Hall could split time defensively against Reddic, an athletic big man who's shooting 63.3 percent from the field.

The skinny

Shaka Smart is 4-1 in his four-year career at VCU against teams from Conference USA. During his tenure, the Rams have tallied 10 or more steals in 61 of 115 games. ... VCU and Memphis are two of just four programs in the country to win at least 24 games in each of the past six seasons. Kansas and BYU are the others. ... Smart coached Memphis freshman Shaq Goodwin last summer on USA Basketball's U18 National Team, which won gold in the 2012 FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Brazil. "Great talent," Smart said.

Report card

After each game, we ask readers to grade the Tigers for that game. We reveal the grades before the next game.